The 2020 Prime Minister’s Literary Award winners were revealed this morning – scroll down to see all of the recipients of the $80,000 prize!

Fiction

The Yield by Tara June Winch

Judges’ comments: “Observant and unflinching, Winch deftly intersperses the narrative with letters of a good-hearted, long-deceased church minister as she explores the tragedy of Wiradjuri children removed from their families and homes. Never didactic, Winch carefully and lovingly brings to life the story of a fractured family and their fight to retain their culture, their language and their land. A lyrical and generous writer, Winch’s prose shimmers through this extraordinary tale of cruelty, dislocation, love and resilience.”

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Non-Fiction

Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson

Judges’ comments: “This book will become the standard account of where the Polynesian people came from and how they settled the Pacific. But that is not its only narrative for Thompson also relates a damning story of how the cultural and racial bias of Western explorers and later scholars led them to misunderstand the origins, nature and occupation history of Polynesians. With a neat sense of irony Thompson demonstrates how Polynesian oral traditions have proven to be more accurate than European discourses on the subject.”

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Songspirals: Sharing Women’s Wisdom of Country through Songlines by Gay’wu Group of Women

Judges’ comments: “This is a fascinating reading and explanation of the systems of knowledge belonging to Aboriginal women in North East Arnhem Land which are expressed through song spirals handed down from generation to generation. It is also an exemplary collaborative work between Yolnu and European women, one that will surely serve as a model for future projects.”

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Australian History

Meeting the Waylo: Aboriginal encounters in the Archipelago by Tiffany Shellam

Judges’ comments: “Relying on a carefully nuanced argument based on a minute and critical reading of the sources, Shellam explores the roles of three Indigenous men – Migeo, Boongaree and Bundle – in mediating between the leaders of Phillip Parker King’s second hydrographic expedition (1838-43) to the north west coast of Australia and the local Waylo people. But this book is also a case study in how historians can use sources written by Europeans to illuminate Indigenous views and understandings, because Shellam refuses to take these documents at their face value. Instead, with a fine critical eye, she looks beyond the Eurocentric cultural assumptions underpinning them to determine a more subtle understanding of the cultures both of the mediators and the Waylo.”

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Poetry

The Lost Arabs by Omar Sakr

Judges’ comments: “The vital, energy-driven poems in this collection speak with a clear and fearless voice, a voice that is often passionate and sometimes angry, but always lucid and warmly human. Omar Sakr, an Arab-Australian-born poet, writes of things that concern us all: love, fear, family, exile, sex, culture, and war. He explores the themes of freedom and violence, of banishment and forgiveness, of the realities of the body and the idea of home. These poems are at once complex and accessible, using a wide range of poetic techniques and forms, and employing richly evocative language. They emphasise the interconnectedness of human affairs: sexuality and spirituality, ethnicity and identity, courage and terror. Some of them are grounded in rage, others in compassion and gentleness, but all of them acknowledge the complexities of their subject matter, and many of them are works of great subtlety and beauty.”

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Children’s Fiction

Cooee Mittigar: A story on Darug songlines by Jasmine Seymour & illustrated by Leanne Mulgo Watson

Judges’ comments: “Cooee Mittigar is about far more than learning words of a language. It is a work of art that is beautiful and accessible, and with wonder on each new page for children and adults alike. In keeping with the promise contained in the full title, it lifts us on the rhythms of days and seasons, and carries us on a journey across Darug country and far beyond in a respectful, reverent paean to a land which two centuries ago boasted hundreds of distinct languages and dialects, most of which have since become extinct. In addition to the wonderful depictions of flora and fauna, the sky is a constant throughout this book, subtly reminding the reader of the enormity of what we still have, and its beauty that we can ill afford to spurn. It is noteworthy that the human inhabitants of the country are not explicitly depicted—they are simply woven into the text as custodians of and partners with the natural world. They are, in keeping with the invocation to ‘tread softly on our lands’ on the final page, part of the land without claiming dominion over it.”

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Young Adult Fiction

How it Feels to Float by Helena Fox

Judges’ comments: “Aa beautifully written, poetic and heart-breaking portrayal of grief, trauma, guilt and mental illness. Biz, the main character, is endearing, nuanced and convincing. Her isolation and disassociation from reality is sensitively handled. She has constructed a world in which she believes she doesn’t need to tell anyone anything as she tries to convey an image of self-sufficiency. The title refers to Biz’s feeling she can float above everything and survive; as she tells teachers and counsellors and anyone else who cares to ask she’s ‘fine’. The first-person narrative allows the reader to develop a special rapport with Biz and understanding of her relationships with others. There is a gradual revealing of the background to Biz’s state of mind and the author uses each word and wonderfully-crafted sentence to portray an unravelling of the tapestry of Biz’s grief and depression, fusing the past and present until she is holding on by a thread.”

Buy it here

Congratulations to all of the 2020 Prime Minister’s Literary Award winners!

Find out more about the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards here

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Olivia Fricot

Olivia Fricot (she/her) is Booktopia's Senior Content Producer and editor of the Booktopian blog. She has too many plants and not enough bookshelves, and you can usually find her reading, baking, or talking to said plants. She is pro-Oxford comma.

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